Hero
by Excuse Me Those Are My Feels
Summary: Bethyl fic where Beth escapes from a group of men who do unspeakable things to her. During her time with them, her budding feelings for Daryl turn to resentment. I'm terrible at writing these things. Its angsty, she's mad, they work it out, WIP Please review if you have a moment. (: TW: Rape
1. Chapter 1

Beth stumbled out of the woods, ever since she escaped she thought of survival only. She was almost like an feral animal, she knew she didn't have time to think about what those men had done to her. She just had to keep moving. One foot in front of the other, until she had found her family. Until she had found Daryl.

_Daryl._

She had avoided thinking of him directly. In her time with those men, she had grown angry with Daryl. That night, before the dog had interrupted, she had felt something coming from him. Of all people, Daryl Dixon. She hadn't even had time to process before the dog set off the noise trap and gone Daryl was out the door to save the day once again.

But in that moment, that split second she had thought there was something more between them. More than just general familial love. A spark... But any thought of that had dissipated in the time she was locked away from him. The only thing that helped in the beginning was the idea of Daryl busting the door down... and as time went on, she started becoming angry with him. Why hadn't he saved her from this torment. If only he knew what they were doing to her, if only he could feel the fear and pain that she herself felt. Now she was just sure there was no way there had been anything more than friends in the air of that funeral home kitchen. If there had been, he would've saved her, he wouldn't let them do those disgusting, depraved things to her.

All she wanted to do was hit him. Where she had once been his source of hope, he had become her's, and he had let her down.

As she trekked through the forest she saw a walker here and there but with her lack of a real weapon, she avoided detection as best as possible, something he had taught her. Every time she thought of him her heart tore. She was so angry, but she just wanted to see him one more time and give him a piece of her mind. She wanted to see Maggie and Glenn... Rick and Judith. She wanted her family. She prayed they were still alive and close by.

She found a house and approached it timidly. There were two fresh graves outside, along with three that looked older. She peeked inside and fortunately saw no one, but it appeared someone had left with haste. Nuts were cracked and the shells were the only remains. After checking the house she found it was blissfully empty. She began boarding up the doors and windows, hoping her captors weren't hot on her tail. She found a bowl of nuts on the coffee table in the living room and dug in. They weren't particularly tasty, but she felt like she was in heaven to have some form of nutrients. After her snack, she sat back on the couch and closed her eyes. Its wasn't too long before she drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

"We can't stay here long, but we found this place before we made it to Terminus. Its... Its where we lost Lizzy and Mika." Tyreese told Rick solemnly.

"We'll stay for a few days, until we can get our things straightened out and our wounds healed." Rick said looking into the windows. "Looks like someone else found your little safe haven though. The windows are all blocked off, and it looks like the doors are too. We'll try knocking, hopefully whoever is in there is friendly. I really don't want to have another gunfight. We're low on ammo as it is."

"What about Beth?" a gruff voice said from behind him. Daryl had been listening in. "How are we going to find her if we're holed up here. Its not like she's going to magically wander across this place."

"Daryl, we don't know where she is. We don't know if she's alive or dead, or which direction to even start looking in. There's a chance we'll never find her." Daryl's eyes dropped to the floor.

"I have to find her... Herschel... Maggie... Maggie doesn't deserve to lose two family members at once..."

"We'll regroup. If you feel up to it, you can see if you can find a trail. We have to focus on us right now."

Daryl sighed but didn't argue. Rick hesitantly raise his fist to the door and knocked softly. Movement was heard from inside and curtain moved swiftly. A slight scream was heard and the group raised their weapons as Daryl and Maggie lowered their's.

"That voice..." Daryl said, his chest swelling with hope as he tried to beat it down.

There was a commotion as the furniture was pushed out of the way. Sobs could be heard and finally with one last grunt the door swung open and the group couldn't believe what they were seeing.

There in front of them, covered in blood and dirt was little Beth Greene, alive and well. Her eyes locked with his for a moment and he could feel the hurt before her eyes finally caught sight of Maggie. She ran out the door and made a beeline for her sister, ignoring Daryl and everything she felt by the sight of him. She latched on to her and felt her sisters arms wrap around her body. The whole affair was wet, as both were sobbing openly, and Glenn even hugged both of them from the side.

Daryl gaped at the scene, unable to process everything that had just happened. The pain he felt from just the look in her eyes, he blamed himself for whatever had happened. He stared at her for a moment, taking in the unbelievable sight of her when he noticed the bruises, fresh and healing. Her shirt had hiked up a bit and he could see an ugly purple marring her beautiful porcelain skin.

He tore his eyes away and stormed off, unable to look on any longer. Rick called after him, and Beth broke away from her sister and looked in his direction.

"Where are you going now?" She yelled after him. He stopped dead and his shoulders tensed.

"Where ever I want, what's it to you? Glad you made it back safe an' all. Like you said, pretty soon you wouldn't need me at all."

Both of them ached at the memory, but hid the pain. She glared at him as he tried to glare back, but his body was just to weak to try to scare her. All he wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms, grateful for her return, but his pride wouldn't allow it. Instead he just kept his gaze on her.

"Glad to see you made it out alive Mr. Dixon. I hope everything just went smoothly for you." Her face was contorted in rage but her voice was almost pleading with him. "I didn't have such a good time you see, I was with this nice preacher man for awhile, and everything was fine. I was talking him into looking for you, since he was too scared to wait around for you at the funeral home. He saw you chasing the car and that's what almost had the deal sealed for me, until this group of... men" she spat the word, as though it was a disgusting taste in her mouth, "arrived and ruined all of that for me."

"I'll kill them" Daryl said coldly not even looking at her anymore. He knew what had happened. What had almost happened to Carl had become a reality for her. His heart was shattered. He had to make this right. Picking up his crossbow he headed off into the woods, ignoring Rick's calls to relax. He wasn't tired anymore, he was angry and his rage fueled him. He would track them until he found them and he would kill them. And then he would go back and make things right with Beth. It was the only way.


	2. Chapter 2

She watched him disappear into the woods, angry, hurt and confused all at the same time. As he disappeared, she fell to the ground and began sobbing. Wretched sounds erupted from her as her pain was finally set free. All of her anger, all of her fury was coming out and there was a twinge of concern of being far too loud and attracting walkers. Maggie fell down beside of her and she wrapped her arms around her, slowly rocking herself back and forth. Rick put his head in his hands and sighed deeply.

"In all due respect, the pretty blonde girl needs to silence herself before we get swarmed." Eugene said, breaking the silence. Beth looked up at him angrily. Abraham spotted the look on her face and stepped between the two of them.

"Let's get you inside Eugene before this one knocks some sense into you." He said, grabbing him by the arm and leading him toward the house. "Your name is Beth, right?" He said looking back at her. "I'm assuming this place is safe seeing as you barricaded yourself inside." She nodded at him and he turned his attention to Rick.

"Guess we'll be here until your guy resurfaces. Hopefully it doesn't take too long; otherwise we'll either have to move on without him, or whoever wants to wait around for him." Abraham said somberly. Fear struck in Beth's heart at the thought of leaving him behind, when he was on this crazy revenge mission for her. Her anger was ebbing and being replaced with panic. Fortunately Carol had come over with a bucket of water.

"Come on Beth, let's get you cleaned up. You'll feel better afterward, I'm sure of it." Beth nodded weakly, her eyes never leaving where his head had disappeared in the woods. She finally tore them away and Carol and Maggie guided her into the house.

Daryl was tracking Beth's footprints to their origin. They started becoming wider, and he could tell he was getting closer. She had been running at this point. His mind was still reeling by the information he had just received. She hadn't said it, but he knew what they had done. They had taken pure, innocent Beth and tainted her. In his desperation of finding her, the thought had never even crossed his mind that something like that would even happen. He hadn't thought of her in that way, holding her after she'd come back, sure, but never going that far. It just seemed wrong. Not that it could ever be a thing, just wasn't a concern.

He was coming into more tracks, bigger steps. There was a fat one he could tell, wobbly footprints gave him away. He slowed his pace to make less sound and a camp appeared in the distance. As he approached it, he saw a fenced off area with a frayed rope hanging from the trees. He was horrified as he realized they had tied her up outside when they were done with her. He closed his eyes for a second to regroup. He let out a haggard breath, and scoped the place out. He saw where the men had built a small fire pit and a small wooded shack which where he could only assume what they did in there. This was too much.

A branch snapped under his foot and he froze. He waited for them to emerge from their tents but no one came. He let his breath go and moved closer to the camp. He found it to be deserted. He kicked the tree next to him before scavenging through the remains of the camp. They didn't leave much, but he did find a couple of Beth's things. Her necklace and journal were on the ground near the shack and he had to resist the urge to scream out in anger. After collecting a couple more supplies, he headed back out to the house they had found.

The walk was a long one, but he knew it'd be worth it. He hoped she'd be happy with the return of her necklace and her journal, and hoped it wouldn't cause her more pain to see them. He started to see an opening in the woods and realized he'd made it back to the house in less time than he realized. Night had fallen during journey and he could see the sun starting to peer through the trees. He longed to rest his tired body, and while he longed for it, he didn't quite expect it. There was work to be done, there always was.

As the house came into view, he could see Carol sitting on the porch watching in his general direction. Her stare was an absent one but when she registered his movement, she shook free of her stupor and made her way over to him.

"Everything go okay out there?" She asked him when she reached him.

"I didn't find anyone out there. I'll go back in a couple days, but I did find a couple supplies and a few things of Beth's…" He paused a moment, bowing his head. He lifted it, squinting at her. "How is she?"

"She's asleep now. She wanted to sit on the porch and wait for you to come back." Carol told him quietly. "Those men did something horrible to her; you can just see it on her face and the marks on her…" Carol put her hand to her mouth and fought back her sadness. "She's mad at you for the moment, but I'm sure it will pass." She was trying her best to comfort him, but he still blamed himself.

"She's right to be." He said as he walked away from her. He wanted to go talk to her, make things right.

"Daryl, just give her some time. She's been through a lot, I'm sure you understand what that's like. She's not ready to open up yet." Carol called after him.

Daryl had made it to the top of the steps and stopped dead. "I have to at least try." He mumbled, before pulling the door open and stepping inside.

The house looked like it was in pretty good condition, given the circumstances. Their supplies were neatly organized around the room. There was a set of stairs against the wall, seemingly leading up to the bedrooms. In the main living room, he found Rick and Carl asleep on the couch. Tyreese was up doing guard duty. He didn't see Judith anywhere, and he had a vague idea where she might be.

"Hey man, everything go alright?" Tyreese asked him lowly.

Daryl shrugged, "I found their camp, but it looks like they ran with their tails between their legs." He told him darkly. "Where's Beth?"

"She's upstairs with Maggie and Sasha, first door from the left at the top of the stairs." Tyreese told him, pointing at the stairs.

Daryl walked to the stairs and climbed them two steps at a time. At the top of the stairs, there was a long hallway. There were two doors on the left and the hallway took a turn, the bathroom seemed to be at the end of the hall before the turn. The first door on the left was shut and Daryl took a moment to take a breath as he raised his hand to knock on the door. Just before his knuckles came in contact with the wood of the door, he heard quiet crying coming from the cracked bathroom door. He walked over as quietly as he could and peered in. He saw a mass of blonde hair and withdrew. '_Beth…'_ he thought to himself. He rapped quietly on the door.

"Go away." A throaty voice said from within the room.

"Sorry." He grunted, not wanting to bother her if she really didn't want to see him.

"Daryl?" the voice wavered. He heard her standing up and the door opened. She was wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of loose shorts. Her legs were littered with cuts and bruises. He swore to himself and she moved back and covered herself with the door. "What do you want?" she asked weakly, unable to muster up any form of anger.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. Sorry to bother you." He said, and he turned to walk away, unable to wash the sight of her beaten and bruised out of his mind.

"I'm alive because of you, because of what you taught me." She told him suddenly. She looked away and stared at the wall. "They're dead right? They won't be coming after me?" she asked him.

Daryl hesitated. He didn't know if he should lie to her, or if he should be honest. He tried to think of what he would want, but even he didn't know. He didn't know how she was feeling.

"No, Beth. They were gone by the time I made it to the camp. I took a couple supplies and I found… I found some stuff that belonged to you… I don't know if you'd want it or not. I'd understand if you didn't though."

She opened the door and stepped toward him. Tears had welled in her eyes, and she looked so helpless. Daryl wanted to run; he didn't want to see this, to deal with this. He didn't know the first thing about what a woman who went through what Beth went through needed at a time like this. He wasn't even comfortable with holding her; he didn't want to hurt her. The woman standing before him had done so much for him; she was the only one he'd told about his past. He had felt safe in her presence, and now he wanted to run. The look in her eyes, however kept him standing there. She needed him, and he wasn't going to let her down. He took her hand and rubbed it with his thumb.

"Daryl I don't want them to get me, please promise you won't let them hurt me anymore." She pushed her way into his arms and he awkwardly hugged her and patted her on the back. He was way out of his own league now. Panic had started setting in and he had no idea what to do.

He pulled away from her and pulled her things out of his pocket, her notebook first and then the necklace. "I found these at their camp. I wasn't sure if you'd even want them back, but if it were me I would."

Beth stared at them for a moment and then took them out of his hand. "They caught me writing in the notebook and took it from me. They told me they had burned it. I wrote about you mostly. I guess that's what upset them." She opened the book and flipped near the end.

"_I wonder where Daryl is. I hope he made it out of that funeral home. I know everyone thinks he's tough but I know someday he'll meet a challenge he can't quite conquer. That day scares me and the thought takes all of the air out of my chest. I can't imagine a world without him in it. He's always protected us, even against his own brother. With Daddy gone and Maggie possibly dead, I don't think I'd ever feel safe again._" She read from the small book.

Daryl was speechless. The simple fact that she had thought so highly of him made a slight smile come across his face. Then he remembered she _had_ thought that highly of him. Anything like that was long gone now; she made that perfectly clear when she saw him.

"Please don't leave me again Daryl. Not unless you have to. Please." She said to him, pleading slightly.

He didn't respond at first. His mind was racing and his urge to run out of there was stronger than ever.

"I'll do my best Greene."


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Daryl didn't see much of Beth. He and Rick had been out on runs looking for supplies so they could head out. Ever since the night in the bathroom, Daryl had felt a sense of empowerment. He couldn't believe that small girl had thought so highly of him, even through so much torment. He tried to ignore the small voice in the back of his head that kept reminding him that by the end of it, he had let her down. Daryl knew he had to try to stay positive. He would die protecting that girl now; there was no doubt about that.

The sun rays were peering between the trees by the time they were ready to leave on the day's run. Yesterday they two of them had spotted a wholesale store on their way back. It almost seemed like a dream come true, but they figured checking it out couldn't hurt. They were taking Michonne and Glenn this time, just for extra back up, in case it was swarmed. They had gone back to where the Governor had massacred his group and grabbed the SUV and the jeep that had been left behind.

Rick and Michonne took the SUV while Glenn and Daryl drove the jeep. The ride wasn't terribly long, but Daryl didn't feel like making small talk with Glenn as the ride went by. As he stared out the window, his mind drifted to Beth. He wondered what he could say to her, but he kept coming up blank. It was felt odd to him, they had been together for a couple weeks, then separated and now he wanted to talk to her more than anything. She just understood him, and when she didn't, she tried to no matter how angry he got at her.

When they pulled into the parking lot, there were a couple lingering walkers, but they were quickly dispatched by Michonne's sword. As they made their way to the entrance, they saw the doors had been boarded up, and for a moment, there was concern that people had taken up shelter here and there was either nothing here or they were still here. Rick knocked on the wooden windows and listened for movement. There were a couple groans of walkers but nothing else. Glenn readied himself at the door as Daryl and Michonne raised their weapons at the door. Rick banged on the door one more time, hoping to draw some of the walkers over and Glenn pulled the doors open. Four walkers stumbled out and Daryl shot the first one with his bow. Michonne took out two of them and Daryl bashed the other with his bow.

"It's a good thing that crossbow doubles as a melee weapon." Michonne said with a slight laugh in her voice. Daryl glared at her as he reloaded the weapon and they made their way inside.

It appeared there had been people living in the store, but they were more than likely the walkers that attacked them. The group split into pairs and began exploring the building. They found some blankets and quite a bit of food. Michonne found a box in the back of clothes and they threw it in the back of the jeep. Rick came across another baby carrier and smiled. The store had been a jackpot and they had every intention of returning the next day to grab the things they had to leave behind.

On their way out, Daryl made sure to secure the door to prevent anyone else from investigating and they drove back to the camp. The group felt good about their finds and knew everyone at the house would be excited at the prospect of clean clothes.

Beth hadn't talked to anyone. Maggie pestered her constantly trying to get her to open up but Beth just ignored her. The truth of it was she just didn't want to talk. Daryl had been too busy and he was the only one she'd consider talking to.

She was skeptical about today's run, but she tried to have hope. She was washing her face in the bathroom to get most of the grime of the day off when they heard the cars approaching. She moved to the window and peered out to see the jeep and the SUV pulling in. A smile tickled her cheeks as it always did when Daryl returned safe and she watched as Carl ran to his Dad and hugged him. She did a check and saw everyone who had left that morning. Her eyes rested on Daryl and she realized he was looking back up at her. He offered a smile and she tried to return it the best she could. She didn't know what to say to him, so a smile was all she had.

Everyone was overjoyed at the haul and the clothing and blankets that had been found. Beth stayed upstairs most of the time, coming down to greet everyone when they came in before retreating back upstairs. After the excitement had died down, Daryl had sought her out to give her a blanket and some of the new clothes. She had found her way up to the attic and was lying down on a cot she'd dug out from under some junk when he knocked tentatively on the wall at the top of the stairs.

"Hey…" She offered when she saw him.

"Hey, I just figured you'd want some of the haul. Your sister said these were your size and…"

"Thank you Daryl." She said standing up and taking them from him. The blanket was a comforter and felt so soft against her skin. The silence was awkward between them after she had spread the blanket over her makeshift bed and sat the clothes down on the table.

"I guess I better go so you can change…" He said moving back towards the stairs.

"You don't have to leave, just turn your back while I get undressed." She told him, suddenly realizing that she didn't want him to leave.

Daryl turned away and watched out the window as she changed. The shirt was a white tank top and the pants were a pair of skinny jeans. Folded inside of the clothes was a pair of cotton white underwear and a pair of socks. She hurriedly changed into them, putting her discarded clothes in a pile to be washed later. The clothes felt good on her skin, but she knew her bruises and cuts were visible. They were almost healed, so she decided not to worry about it. She remembered when Daryl had seen them before and hoped they wouldn't be too noticeable. She took her hair out of her ponytail and ran the brush Maggie had found through it before putting it back up.

"Okay, I'm decent." She said softly and Daryl turned around. She watched as his eyes went straight to her arms and she suddenly felt insecure. She picked up her flannel shirt she had on before and put it on before sitting down on her bed.

"They don't hurt anymore." She said softly. "They're just healing up now."

"I'm sorry Beth." It was the only thing he could think to say to her anymore. He wished he knew how to explain what he was feeling, but it was something he didn't even understand. One minute he wanted to hold her forever, and another minute he wanted to run for the hills. She scared him with her ability to affect her the way she did. He knew for a fact that he just wanted to protect her. Forever.

"You don't have to keep telling me you're sorry Daryl. I promise, I'm not mad at you."

"You were when you came back." He said, ashamed.

"You're here now. I'm here. Everything's going to be fine, as long as those guys don't come back anyway."

"If they do, I'll kill them." He said with ferocity.

"I know you will…" She trailed off.

He was warring with himself, he wanted to ask her, but at the same time, knowing what they had done to her would probably be too much to handle. He had the general idea, but he didn't want to make her relive it. It would also probably send him off the deep end.

"They didn't… touch me like that. Just so you know." She said staring off into space. "They did it to the other girls. They made me watch. They told me they were going to do the same things to me when they were done with the others. I escaped when I heard them killing Jenny… I knew what was going to happen if I didn't. They beat me up a lot. They always said I had a smart mouth when I would point out what they'd done wrong."

Anger swelled in his chest as she spoke, and Daryl had to keep his calm. He was just glad she didn't have to live through what the other girls she spoke of did.

"Don't feel like you have to say yes, but will you stay here with me tonight?" Beth asked him hesitantly.

"Beth, I don't know if that's such a good idea…" He said.

"You don't have to sleep with me, but just knowing you're here… I'd probably sleep a little better. I keep having these damn nightmares… I'm just afraid." She told him quietly.

Daryl hesitated, but agreed. He just wished he could tell her how afraid of her he was.

A/N I'm going to be changing my penname after posting this. I just wanted everyone to know. Thanks for reading! Please review! Thanks!


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